Dutch teacher killed in shooting

[Link]

There's probably no English article for this, but yesterday a Dutch teacher was shot in the school's cafetaria by a 17 year old student. He was shot in the head, and died in hospital the same evening. I can get soo friggin' mad about these sort of things. Why why why do something so stupid? You WILL get caught! You WILL get punished! Why do something so stupid and kill a man for no obvious reason???? [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img]

[ 01-14-2004, 02:24 PM: Message edited by: Link ]

[Melusine]

Link, I doubt that someone f***ed up enough to shoot his teacher in front of hundreds of witnesses was in the right state of mind to even consider the consequences.

I heard it last night and I'm appalled and immensely saddened. I know people who teach and it's one of the career options I am considering for myself. When I was in school, I had healthy likes and dislikes for several teachers, like everybody has, but one thing I've always felt for them is respect and admiration. Last night I just closed my eyes and my whole heart went out to the teacher who was killed, Hans van Wieren. What a truly horrible way to go. I hope he will rest in peace.

[Melusine]

Oh and of course this is big enough for there to be English news stories about it - remember the shoot-out in Germany for instance? That got international coverage.
Here is the link to the BBC article.

[The Hierophant]

No response comes to mind other than sadness for the deceased, and regret of whatever circumstances and personal problems that lead to this kid doing this. Man, sh*t, it shouldn't happen, it just shouldn't happen. And the problem is no degree of legislation can stop it

Damn!

[johnny]

The fellow students of the suspect held some kind of demonstration, chanting the suspects name, and stating that the guy had no other option, because the teacher in question was always on him like a bad suit. So in a way they were saying that the teacher had it coming to him.

Must be some kind of Turkish cultural thing, cause in my schooldays i had teachers on my back day in day out, and i don't recall ever taking a gun to school. I say this kid is pretty much a mental case. They need to lock him up and throw away the key.

[The Hierophant]

Originally posted by johnny: in my schooldays i had teachers on my back day in day out, and i don't recall ever taking a gun to school.

Ditto man. When I was 14 I pissed my biology teacher off so much that he kicked me in the back! And even at that hormonal young age I was able to see that it was my fault for pushing him too far.
I'd say that no one ever has pre-meditated murder 'coming to them', not even murderers themselves. This kid really f**ked up bad. I hope someday he learns the error of his ways. All condolences to the teacher's family and friends.

[Link]

I saw the same thing on the news today johnny, and I can't believe those kids justify the murder, just because he was singled out! Who cares! Most of the times it IS you who started it all, not the teacher! Maybe I ought to go to the Hague to tell them in their face they should have more respect for the dead than they have right now. Or AT LEAST show regret instead of encouragement.

[Donut]

Times article from today

Gun related murders are still a relatively rare occurrence in Europe so they still get reported in the British media.

[ 01-16-2004, 06:22 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]

[Cloudbringer]

This is very sad, indeed. I hate seeing this sort of thing in the news- just reminds me that there are so many angry/screwed up people out there with no respect for life and no idea how to properly handle stress. And conversely, not enough help out there for those who have other mental/emotional issues.

Very sad.

[dplax]

It might be that the teacher always was bad with him, but I don't think that that's enough to shoot someone for by far. Maybe report on the teacher to the headmaster or something like that, and then the problem might have been resolved. But this was no way to handle the situation.